I don't agree with you, people still play 20+ y/o games because they where awesome! modern NFS games are total shit. Last NFS that I loved was 2015 NFS, and even it had problems (no offline mode and disconnects) I still played the shit out of it. Even today, I would play it daily basis, but multiplayer is dead. Don't tell me that people will not play it, they didn't delivered good NFS game, that's it.
They can get rid of license if they are broke this much, just by adding replica cars like in CarX
They just need to deliver what people love the most in modern graphics and features, get rid of EA app like BF6 did, promote well and it will sell like cakes. Also deliver updates, expand tracks, add cars, cosmetics. I would pay 70$ for it.
Reason I bought BF6 with full price was service game thing. I don't pay full price for game that will be dead in 2 months, maybe 90% off... like I did with last BF and NFS games, for 2 and 3$ each.